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investigations into such incidents last usually from 10 to 30 days, and, therefore, the ban on Su-25 flights should be lifted in March or April.
An Air Force commission is working at the crash site to reconstruct the circumstances of the tragedy, including the analysis of the plane's flight data recorders.
The Air Force commander is supposed to make a decision on lifting the ban on Su-25 flights upon completion of the investigation.
KUBINKA, Moscow region. March 24 (Interfax-AVN) - New compositions of the Russian Air Force air display teams Strizhi and Russkiye Vityazi will take part in the Victory Parade at Red Square on May 9, 2008, Maj. Gen. Alexander Belevich, the commander of the 16th Air Army, told journalists.
"For objective reasons, new pilots have joined the air display teams. Three new pilots have come instead of those who left, and two more swapped places in the piloting formations," Belevich said.
Active preparations for the parade will start at the beginning of April, as weather made it impossible to start preparations earlier, Belevich said. "The weather in December, January, February, and March was not conduce to the practice of pilot teamwork," he said.
"There are one and a half months ahead, during which young pilots will perfect their piloting skills, including the keeping of combat formation lines," he said.
The pilots from the Strizhi and Russkiye Vityazi air display teams are 70% to 80% ready to perform at the Victory Parade, he said.
Igor Tkachenko, the head of the aircraft display center in Kubinka, said that the pilots will not perform aerobatics over Red Square. The teams will form a diamond of five Su-27 and four MiG-29 fighters and fly over the square, he said.
CHITA. March 24 (Interfax-AVN) - A major command drill began in Buryatia and the Irkutsk region on Monday, a source at the information and public relations department of the Siberian military district told Interfax-AVN.
"More than 100 military commands and military registration and enlistment offices will take part in the exercises until March 29," district spokesman Col. Valery Shcheblanin said.
"The exercises will verify the mobilization readiness of military staffs, local authorities, forces and military registration and enlistment offices," he said.
Local authorities and task forces of the armed forces, the Interior Ministry and the Emergency Situations Ministry will participate in the drill, he said.
"Several thousand reservists will be engaged in the exercises for testing the mobilization system, the readiness of military registration and enlistment offices and the professional training of reserve officers," he said.
MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Yury Baluyevsky will return from vacation on March 26 and the issue of his further military service will be clarified then, a high-ranking source with the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax-AVN on Monday.
"I do not want to comment on media reports that Yury Baluyevsky signed a letter of resignation, as well as on reasons behind the move. I suppose that the situation will become clear by the end of the week when Yury Nikolayevich returns from vacation," the source said.
If Baluyevsky resigns, his first deputy Lieut. Gen. Alexander Burutin could be appointed to office, he said. "This is the most realistic candidature," the source said.
According to media reports, Baluyevsky signed a letter of retirement. Interfax-AVN failed to secure official comments from the Russian Defense Ministry on these reports.
The term of military service was extended for Baluyevsky, who turned 60 in January 2007, for another three years. He has been in office as chief of the Russian General Staff since June 2004.
MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia's Space Forces, formed exactly seven years ago, are an important element in the system ensuring the country's defense capability, Space Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin told Interfax-AVN.
"Guaranteed deterrence of aggression against Russia - in space and from space, and Russia's assured access to space and freedom of activities in space rank among the Space Forces' priorities, as previously," Zolotukhin said.
" The others priorities are the defense of Russia's space resources and the prevention of discrimination against Russia's activities in space by other countries. Quality renewal of the Space Forces' armaments is expected to facilitate the attainment of these goals," he said.
"In 2008 and in the coming years the Space Forces will focus on the maintenance and replenishment of the orbital spaceship grouping, quality renovation of the Space Forces' arsenals, the formation of new space systems and complexes with a long service life, and a deep modernization and development of the ground infrastructure," Zolotukhin said.
The Space Forces will be further supplied with new ground control systems and high-readiness radars, he said. "The development of the new space missile system Angara will continue at Plesetsk launch pad, which is another priority," said Zolotukhin.
MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Commander of the Air-Borne Force Lt.Gen. Valery Yevtukhovich has said that the adoption of the upgraded airborne infantry fighting vehicle BMD-4M at the end of 2008 will require changes in the tactics of paratroopers while operating behind enemy lines and as part of the Land Forces.
"A new page in the history of the Air-Borne Force will be turned with the adoption of the upgraded BMD-4 at the end of this year. The methods of using our troops, the tactics of Air-Borne units and formations in key types of general combat may change fundamentally," he said at the presentation of the upgraded BMD-4 at a testing ground of Kurganmashzavod plant, a leading facility of the Tractor Plants concern, on March 21.
The general said that with the adoption of the vehicle alongside other types of military hardware, including the 125-mm antitank self-propelled system 2S25 (Sprut), the combat potential of the force will triple.
"On the whole BMD-4 shares 80% of its units, components and systems with the chassis of BMD-3. The vehicle will be parachuted from military transport aircraft. It is also capable of moving in water, not only on the ground," he said.
MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry is reorganizing the system of purchases for the federal and regional logistics services and restructuring controls over the quality of logistics supplies, said Gen. Vladimir Isakov, the head of the Armed Forces' Logistics Department.
""The reform aims to organize a rigorous vertical system of management and responsibility for placing orders, and to provide scheduled supplies of quality goods and services," Isakov said on Monday.
"The ultimate goal is to spend budgetary resources more thriftily and make tender procedures open and compliant with the uniform requirements to commodities and suppliers," the general said.
MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax-AVN) - New airborne weapons being developed in Russia will give new capabilities to the Russia air forces, Col. Yury Balyko, the head of the Air Forces' 30th Central Research Center, said.
"Airborne weapons under development will be capable of hitting ground, sea and air targets - the usual tasks fulfilled by air forces, but also of meeting the projected needs of Russia's air-space defense," Balyko told journalists.
The timeframe for making airborne weaponry and purchasing them will be checked with the plans to develop and buy carrier aircraft: upgraded Sukhoi Su-24's, Su-25's, MiG-31, and new types of Su-34 aircraft, and the prospective air complex for the tactical air force, or PAK FA.
"Modern weaponry will give new combat capabilities to these air complexes," said Balyko.
MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax-AVN) - One soldier was killed in Chechnya in February 2008.
It was a non-combat loss, the Defense Ministry said on its official website.
Another two died in bullying incidents in February, two were murdered or died accidentally, and three died in accidents. One serviceman was killed as a result of careless handling of weapons.
In January, one serviceman was killed in a bullying incident, two were killed accidentally, two as a result of careless handling of weapons, and three each were killed in car crashes and accidents.
The Russian army has lost 61 troops since the beginning of the year.
MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax-AVN) - About a dozen air regiments, SAM and SEMA units of the Ural air force were dispatched to the Ashuluk training range in the Astrkhan region to take part in a live firing exercise, Air Force spokesman Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky told Interfax-AVN.
"They will take part in the exercise at Ashuluk from April1 to 10," he added, noting that MiG-31 fighter regiments, Su-24 bomber regiments, Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopter regiments, and Tu-134, An-12 and An-26 airlift regiments are to be involved in the drill.
"The air defense forces of the group will also take part in the active phase of the Air Force fire conference and Army exercises at Ashuluk and Kapustin Yar training ranges," he said.
MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax-AVN) - The periodical training of reservists is nearing end at the Teikovo-based Strategic Missile Force division, SMF spokesman Col. Alexander Vovk told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.
"Over 300 reservists were called from the reserve for a ten-day periodical training, which included a command post exercise, too," he said, noting that the reservists of Ivanovo and its regions were called.
The trainees were equipped with food, uniform and accommodation for the whole period of training, and received monetary allowances in line with their ranks and positions. The main goal of the training was to check and improve the skills of reservists in practical missions.
The Taikovo missile division is armed with Topol and Topol-M ICBM systems.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Chief Military Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky has said he ordered local military prosecutors to take the current spring draft under surveillance to prevent any offenses it may involve.
One of the tasks he had given the prosecutors was to deal with draft dodgers, Fridinsky told Interfax-AVN.
Prosecutors had also been ordered to monitor the staff of draft ports at every level, "up to bodies of control," he said.
Fridinsky said 112 draft consultation posts had been set up in 96 Russian cities.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The number of graduates from the law enforcement agencies of CIS member states trained in Russian Interior Troops' universities could increase in the near future, Deputy Interior Ministry Force Commander Valery Baranov told journalists.
"We are training several dog handling experts for Belarus and Interior Troops officers for Azerbaijan," Baranov said.
The Russian Interior Troops' universities could soon begin to prepare staff for the Kazakh, Tajik and Uzbek Interior Troops in the near future, the general said, adding that an agreement between Russia and these countries has already been prepared, but has yet to take effect.
There are about 20 students from CIS member states at five Russian Interior Troops' universities, the general said.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Two Tu-95MS heavy bombers of the division stations at the Ukrainka AFB and two Il-78 tanker planes have successfully ended their 15-hour patrol mission over the neutral waters of the Arctic and Pacific oceans, Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky, the Russian Air Force spokesman, told Interfax-AVN.
"The aircraft were escorted by NATO fighters during their flights in the vicinity of Alaska," he said, noting that the aircrews of the Long-range Aviation of Russia perform regular flights patrolling the neutral waters of the Arctic, Atlantic, pacific oceans and the Black Sea.
According to Drobyshevsky, the crews are improving their skills of operating aircraft during the flights over northern areas with no navigation signatures.
"They refine their interoperability in different situations, including air-to-air refueling," he added, noting that this maneuver is said to be one of the most difficult, because two 200-tonne aircraft use a 20-m long cable during the operation flying at a speed of 600 km/h.
"Especially difficult this is when aerial refueling has to be done in presence of NATO escorts," Drobyshevsky added.
Thanks to air refueling Tu-160 and Tu-95MS can remain in air for over 24 hours.
"All Air Force flights have been performed in strict compliance with international rules on the use of airspace over neutral waters, and without violation of borders of any foreign nation," the Air Force spokesman stressed.
VLADIVOSTOK. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - A Sukhoi Su-25 attack plane, which crashed outside Vladivostok last week, was shot down by a missile accidentally fired by a wingman, a source from the commission investigating the incident told Interfax on Wednesday.
"The theory that the crash was caused by a mechanical fault has not been confirmed. It has been discovered that the Su-25 attack plane was shot down by a missile fired by a wingman," he said.
It was reported earlier that the Su-25 plane exploded in flight, and its pilot failed to eject and was killed.
The incident took place 143 km away from Vladivostok in the Chernigovka garrison. An oversight commission was appointed to investigate the causes of the crash, and Air Force Commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin issued an order restricting all Su-25 flights until the investigation is over.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Protection of critical installations of the nation is one of the responsibilities of the Interior Ministry Force of Russia, force's press service has said.
"The Interior Ministry Force protects most important national facilities including nuclear power plants. Presently over 100 such installations are under protection, including 10 NPPs and seven restricted access compounds," reads the press release, disseminated during the press conference of Army Gen. Nikolai Rogoshkin, the Interior Ministry Force commander.
The pres conference is timed to the Day of the Interior Ministry Force, marked annually on March 27.
According to the press service, considerable importance has been attached of late to alpine training of the IMF service members. For instance, a specialized training center was opened in the Krasnodar territory, where more than 3,500 servicemen have undergone training since 2005.
The Interior Ministry Force has adopted a new chain of command in 2008, with IMF districts transformed into regional commands, and directly-subordinate units reorganized as brigades. Furthermore, a step-by-step transition from heavy weapons to special purpose equipment and materiel, including non-lethal systems, is underway.
Digital communication technologies are being introduced intensively, with a single telecommunication network almost ready for operation, the press service said.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Army Gen. Nikolai Rogozhkin, the Interior Ministry Force commander, told a news conference on Wednesday that the Interior Ministry Force protects nuclear facilities reliably.
"No incidents of illegal penetrations into nuclear facilities have been reported. The facilities are all closed tightly," he said in answer to the Interfax-AVN question, whether terrorists attempted to seize nuclear materials.
He added that facts of omissions have been registered in the protected areas either unintentional or caused by negligence.
The Interior Ministry Force protects over 100 critical national installations including ten nuclear power plants.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Launches of guided missiles at surface and aerial targets were performed by Air Force at the Ladoga training range on Wednesday.
"Four fighter regiments equipped with Su-27, MiG-31 and MiG-29 jets were involved in the exercise," Air Force spokesman Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday, noting that over 100 sorties were made both day and night from home bases of the air regiments.
"The goals of the exercise were achieved, the aircrews, staff officers, including junior target acquisition officers and commanding offers received a very good practice, and gained skills," he said, adding that no violations of safety rules or errors in aircrew activities were revealed.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Army Gen. Nikolai Rogozhkin, the Russian Interior Ministry Force commander, told a news conference that all its heavy armored vehicles had been handed over to the Defense Ministry.
"We have handed over armored vehicles to the Defense Ministry and are adopting thin-skinned vehicles and special weapons for service now," he said on Wednesday.
About 80% of the equipment now in service of the force is new, he said, noting that all latest examples of weaponry developed by the domestic industry will be fielded as soon as all requisite procedures, including tests, are over.
The funding of the Interior Ministry Force allows it to buy all equipment needed. The force is now about 200,000 personnel strong.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Army Gen. Yury Baluyevsky, the Chief of the Russian General Staff, is back on duty after the vacation, the Russian Defense Ministry press service told Interfax-AVN.
"Today he is taking part in the meeting of the Defense Industry Commission under the Russian Government, which is underway with First Deputy Prime minister Sergey Ivanov in chair," the spokesman said, noting that the commission has met to address prospects of State Defense Order implementation and set the parameters of the State Arms Procurement Program for 2011-2020.
According to earlier reports, Baluyevsky submitted an application for resignation. No comments to that effect have been available from the Defense Ministry so far.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The ROSTO Russian defensive, sports and technical organization has trained over 600,000 specialists for the national Armed Forces over the past seven years, qualifying them in 39 specialties, ROSTO's Central Council Chairman yury Kamyshanov has said.
"Last year we trained 64,000 specialists, and are going to train over 94,000 next year in 40 specialties," he told the 7th ROSTO congress on Wednesday.
According to him, 90% of ROSTO trainees join military service, which means that they feel much more confident than their equals in age, who haven't got ROSTO training.
According to him, ROSTO will join efforts with the Defense Ministry and other uniformed agencies to improve the quality of training.
"Preparation of young men for military service has always been one or the main priorities of the organization, which we consider to be of vital importance for the nation. The requirement for more intensive youth training before military service has grown immensely in view of the conscript service term reduction to 12 months," he added, noting that positive dynamics had been observed in the funding for youth training, with the governmental contract for such services having grown in price five times.
Thanks to the assistance of the General Staff, main and central directorates of the Defense Ministry and other agencies, much has been done of late as far as the equipment supplies to ROSTO are concerned. "In the past seven years we have received over 1,200 special vehicles, lots of other equipment and materiel," Kamyshanov said.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry is exploring measures to optimize its command structure, which might involve, among other things, the assigning of civilian status to certain categories of jobs, the ministry's information and public relations department reported on Wednesday.
"A number of media outlets have published reports grossly distorting the essence and the ultimate goals of the measures that are being explored at the Russian Defense Ministry with the aim of optimizing its command structure and assigning civilian status to a number of categories of jobs within its system," it said.
The measures in question will be long-term, and no final decisions on them have yet been made, it said.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry has denied reports claiming that some of the ministry's high-ranking officials have handed in letters of resignation.
"Reports were circulated, citing 'high-ranking sources in the defense ministry and independent experts,' which claimed that the defense ministry leadership was torn with disagreements. Moreover, they claimed that some officials had tendered resignation over disagreements with the minister," the defense ministry said in a statement.
These reports are "extremely irresponsible and all 'facts and information' cited in them are untrue," the ministry's Information and Public Relations Department said.
Mass media reports alleged that Russian General Staff Chief Yury Baluyevsky had handed in a letter of resignation.
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - The Pribanshur base in the Russian republic of Udmurtiya has finished scrapping this year's first batch of Topol strategic missile launchers, a spokesman for the Strategic Missile Force told Interfax-AVN on Thrusday.
"Six mobile launchers of Topol missiles were scrapped, which service lives have expired," he said, noting that the solid-propellant missiles and launchers are being scrapped at specialized facilities with U.S. inspection teams supervising the process.
The liquidation of missile systems is underway in compliance with START-1. First, the launchers are demilitarized, with specific equipment dismantled from them. The carrier vehicle is used further in the interests of the Ministry of Defense or the nations economy.
All procedures go in strict compliance with the technological and ecological requirements. The scrapping method is certified as meeting the most stringent international standards and proved safe.
As many as 36 Topol launchers were scrapped in 2007, as opposed to16 ones in 2006, the SMF spokesman said, adding that alongside with scrapping, the manufacturer is engaged into a serious effort to extend service lives of missiles.
Presently, the initial guaranteed service life has been extended by a decade. On October 18, 2007 a Topol was launched from Plesetsk, proving that the missiles remain operational even at the age of 21 years. Service life extension is critical to ensure stage-by-stage replacement of old missiles with new ones, without making the process a heavy burden for the defense budget of the country.
Moscow. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - About 133,000 people will be called up for military service in spring 2008, and in the autumn the number will rise to 200,000, Deputy General Staff Chief Col. Gen. Vasily Smirnov said.
"We plan to call up 133,200 citizens aged between 18 and 27 in spring 2008," Smirnov told the press on Thursday.
Given that the number of reasons for granting deferments has been reduced from 25 to 21, the number of conscripts will increase by about 100,000," he said.
"As a result, the replenishment of conscripts in the armed forces in autumn 2008 will increase even further, reaching 200,000," Smirnov said.
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry has no plans to reduce the size of the armed forces and the Defense Ministry's central apparatus, said deputy chief of staff of the Russian armed forces Col. Gen. Vasily Smirnov.
"Ways to optimize the military command system are being explored now, and we are not planning to cut the strength of the armed forces and the Defense Ministry's central apparatus, which are set by presidential decree," Smirnov said.
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Nearly 70% of prospective conscripts were declared eligible for military service in Moscow last year, Moscow military commissar Andrei Glushchenko said at the Thursday meeting of the city conscription commission.
"Moscow had 69.8% eligible conscripts last fall," he said. "The rate was down by 0.5%."
"Military registration and enlistment offices examined over 60,000 prospective conscripts in fall," he said.
Seventy-eight percent of young men drafted in Moscow were posted at military units in the central region, while 23% were sent to Siberia and the Far East, he said.
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Military training centers at Russian universities will admit 180 students each year to be assigned to the Strategic Missile Troops after graduation. Another 140 students will undergo military training at the Siberian State Aerospace University.
"The annual enrolment to military training centers, which will graduate contract officers in various military professions beginning from 2008, will number 180 students," spokesman for the Strategic Rocket Forces Col. Alexander Vovk told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"In addition to this, 140 students will be admitted each year to the Military Training Department of the Siberian State Aerospace University to train reserve officers for the Strategic Rocket Forces," he said.
Contract officers for the Strategic Rocket Forces will be trained at the military training centers of six Russian universities: Moscow Aviation Engineering Institute, Tomsk State University, St.Petersburg State Aerospace Instrument-Building University, Omsk State Technical University, Moscow State Technical University and Siberian State Aerospace University.
MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian president has signed changes to the regulations for military service training, setting out new legal terms for training army and naval officers who graduate from civilian universities, said Col. Gen. Viktor Zavarzin, who chairs the State Duma defense committee.
"The document sets out regulations for training future military officers at civil universities and imposes liability on those candidates who refuse to do the officer's training," Zavarzin told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
Last Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed changes to the military service regulations concerning citizens, who go through military training at military training centers and civil universities under a contract with the defense ministry.
Regulations on how military training centers at civil universities will operate have also been established, Zavarzin said. .
"There will be 37 centers, four of them at medical universities. They will be opened at the country's leading universities, which will guarantee high quality of training for specialists majoring arts and sciences," said the head of the committee.
Students of these universities, who decided to undergo training at such centers, should sign an agreement with the Defense Ministry obliging them to do the military service under a minimum three-year contract once they graduate. Students who have signed such agreements will not pay university's tuition fees.
MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax-AVN) - Around 8,000 servicemen and 2,000 arms and pieces of military equipment are involved in a joint exercise currently being held by troops from the Privolzhsko-Uralski Military District (PUMD) and the Russian Air Forces in southern Russia, Col. Igor Konashenkov, the assistant to the Land Commander-in-chief, told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"The exercise is coordinated by the commander of the PUMD troops, Army General Vladimir Boldyrev, at the Kapustin Yar training site of the air defense troops' training center of tactical employment and at the Ashuluk training site of the AF training center of tactical employment," Konashenkov said.
During training PUMD units and formations, as well as the Ural coalition of air forces and air defense troops are practicing skills such as anti-aircraft warfare and coordination between military command bodies in performing missions in the Central Asian strategic shpere.
"The troops are to practice a great number of operations aimed at training the units and formations," Konashenkov said.
ST. PETERSBURG March 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The Kirov Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg has conducted a special tactical exercise, Yury Klenov, an aide to the commander of the Leningrad Military District told Interfax on Thursday.
The aim of the exercise was to transform the Pushkin garrison hospital into a multi-profile large-capacity army hospital capable of providing urgent medical aid in conditions of a military conflict, man- made disaster or natural calamity in cooperation with medical structures of other departments, he said.
Up-to-date medical equipment was used during the exercise, the spokesman said.